Fugitive returned to Tampa from New York

Friday, August 22, 2014

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Tampa Bay area fugitive is back in Florida after being arrested in New York on a 7-year-old warrant.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reports that 28-year-old Rick Joseph was extradited to Tampa on Wednesday. He faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of 17-year-old Marcus Johnson.

Officials say fugitive cold case detectives used social media, along with public and investigative databases, to track Joseph to an area of Brooklyn, New York, this past spring. He was arrested in April with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Authorities say a group of people where arguing in May 2007 when Joseph fired several shots, killing Johnson and wounding one of his friends.

Joseph had been living in New York under the name "Thomas Brown," but it wasn't clear how long he had been there.